In my twenty three years of existence, I’ve never had a red velvet cupcake…so much for being a foodie. Luckily, a few weeks ago, in celebration of a co-workers birthday, my boss bought us cupcakes from one of the speciality cupcake stores in Washington, DC – Red Velvet Cupcakery. It was a lucious deep red color with a large dallop of whipped cream cheese frosting on top and a few red sprinkles. The cupcakes looked a little small…but as always, don’t let size fool you, sometimes good things come in small packages! Despite it’s deceiving size, it was packed full of deliciousness!!! It was amazing and I craved for more…I even decided that my birthday cake would be red velvet with cream cheese frosting & sprinkles! (My birthday is 5 months away, mind you) BUT, since I try not to over-eat on the sugar & desserts, all I had was the  sweet memory of that single red velvet cupcake (that I actually shared with the BF) … LUCKY FOR ME, Valentine’s day was on the horizon and a perfect excuse to recreate Red Velvet Cupcakes…On that note, I got all my ingredients together and put on my baking face. On the menu: RED VELVET CUPCAKES WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING…all from scratch!

Red Velvet being a southern classic, who else better than Paula Deen’s recipe to follow! So, an ode to Paula for helping me recreate these fluffy, beautiful, moist red velvet cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (24 cupcakes)
Ingredients
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
* 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
* 2 large eggs, room temperature
* 2 tablespoons red food coloring
* 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
* 1 pound cream cheese, softened
* 2 sticks butter, softened
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
* Chopped pecans and fresh raspberries or strawberries, for garnish

Red Velvet Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes*, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

*I baked these cupcakes for 20 minutes – they were perfectly done! Don’t forget that they continue to bake a little once out of the oven, so you don’t want to keep them in the oven too long.

Overall, the cupcakes were a huge hit! They were moist and fluffy and had the slightest hint of cocoa powder…(maybe a little more wouldn’t have hurt). The color of my cupcakes were a little more pink than the deep lucious red. Since food coloring is what makes the red velvet cupcake, I don’t think a little more would hurt!

In comparison to Red Velvet Cupcakery…let’s be honest, I’m not a pro here and I don’t own my own cupcakery…so, is there really any comparison? ha. The consistency of the cupcakes were different, according to the BF, RVC (red velvet cupcakery) has a more dense consistency, more poundcake like. RVC, deeper color & richer chocolate flavor – you could definitely pull out that cocoa powder. The only benefits of my homemade red velvet cupcakes are: cost-efficient, you can eat as many as you want for the price of one cupcake from the cupcakery and they’re will satisfy the craving in a heart beat! (Also, if you’re not from the Washington, DC area, these would save you the trip to DC ;) )

I like making my own cream cheese frosting as well because you can control the sweetness of it. I like being able to taste the cream cheese and not have it overbearingly sweet like the pre-made canned cream cheese frostings…so, all in all – red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting were a success!

Beef Stroganoff is like a comfort food for me…which is unusual because I RARELY eat it…but I suppose that’s what comfort foods are, something you rarely eat because they are so UNHEALTHY, but when you are craving it and are feeling down – it hits the spot beacuse it’s sooooo good!

Yesterday I was trying to find a recipe that included all the stuff I had sitting in my fridge, sirloin filets, sliced portobella mushrooms and leftover egg noodles…nothing really, except beef stroganoff! I would usually be up for making it, but I’m sort-of-kind-of on this healthy eating thing and stroganoff requires a hell of a lot cream and butter – and I just couldn’t do it.

So, I was brought back to this delicious side dish that Tyler made for dinner a few weeks back…Sauteed Wild Mushrooms (adapted from Ina Garten). My original plan was to sear the beef cubes and reduce it in a red wine and beef stock…then cook the mushrooms and eat them over the egg noodles, however, we decided to get a little creative and came up with…

Beef Stroganoff sans Cream

1/2 cup olive oil
1 large shallot, diced
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 stick of butter
2lbs of mushrooms
1lb of sirloin filet, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup beef stock
salt
pepper
egg noodles

Cook egg noodles according to package, al dente.

Cut the sirloin filets into 1-inch cubes, pat dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat, add oil. When oil is hot and smoking, sear the beef cubes on all sides. Remove the beef cubes and put aside in a bowl. Add the shallots and cook until soft and translucent. Add the mushrooms (make sure they are dry, otherwise, they will create too much water!) Cook the mushrooms just until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Add the seared beef cubes and beef broth, bring to a slight simmer. Add the egg noodles and mix with the mushroom/beef…ENJOY!

I’ve had this recipe in my foodnetwork.com recipe box for a while now and have been dying to make it…and finally today I decided to give it a try…and sometimes it really is the most simplistic meals that are the greatest! This recipe was from the Ellie Krieger Eating Well collection…it’s originally called “Jambalaya with Shrimp and Ham“, but I’m just so and so with the ham..and I had chicken sausage in my fridge, so I opted for chicken sausage (mild italian chicken sausage, delicious btw!)

The recipe was so easy to make and took me about 40-5o minutes max to prepare and cook! It was full of flavor and the spices hit just the right spots…it reminded me a little of arroz con pollo, with the tomato stewed rice, but not as sweet and with an extra spicy kick. It didn’t have the creole infusion that I expect from true New Orleans Jambalaya, but all in all, it was very tasty and fulfilling.

Be careful when simmering the rice, you want to keep it on low heat and let it cook extra if necessary…otherwise the bottom will burn!

Jambalaya with Shrimp & Chicken Sausage

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced (I omitted this)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (use a little less if you don’t want it to be too spicy)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
6 ounces chicken sausage, sliced (or smoked ham)
2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 (14 1/2 oz) can no-salt added diced tomatoes
1 cup uncooked long-grain white rice (I used 1.5 cups)
1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, peppers and garlic and saute until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Mix in the next 11 ingredients, salt through the diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, Stir in the rice, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until rice is done and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add the shrimp and cook, covered, for 5 minutes more, or until shrimp is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Usually I buy blueberries because I like to make blueberry muffins…however, I do not have very good luck with blueberry muffins. They never come out the way a true blueberry muffin should…so I decided to try something else out. And that is how I landed on Blueberry Crumb Bars. Recipe adapted from one of my favorite food bloggers…Smitten Kitchen!

First try and they were delicious! Perfectly sweet and moist…buttery and crumbly. However, I did find that I had too much ‘dough’…perhaps I didn’t pack enough for the bottom layer or maybe I used too small of a pan? I’m not sure, but I decided to just leave some out (and made mini apple crumb bars!). Also, the top layer was nicely browned and had a crispness to it that makes it fun to eat. Only thing is, probably shouldn’t pack it down too much on the top…instead just sprinkle over the top and let it be loose!

Blueberry Crumb Bars
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 10 to 15 minutes in my oven.) Cool completely before cutting into squares.

I’d make these again, definitely :) Thanks Smitten Kitchen!

Whenever my two oldest friends and I get the chance to get together for dinner, we always try to venture out to somewhere we’ve never been before – usually one of the Washingtonian’s top picks, cheap eats or some restaurant we’ve heard of and received good reviews on yelp – for our Christmas dinner, we decided to check out a Malaysian restaurant in the heart of DC: Malaysia Kopitiam.

Malaysia Kopitiam is located at:
1827 M St NW
Washington DC, 20036

We all chose an appetizer and two main dishes to share between the three of us – yes, we can seriously eat :)

I’ve only had Malaysian food once before and it was many many years ago, but from what I remembered, it was delicious! I couldn’t tell you exactly what I had the first time, but I do remember it was a fusion of Indian type foods and Souteast Asian type foods. There was lots of roti, curries, noodles, spices…right up my alley! The three appetizers we chose were: Roti Canai,  Lo Bak and Tofu Satay.

Roti Canai

I think a staple of Malaysian appetizers is Roti Canai – a flat, flaky Indian style bread served with a bowl  of Malaysian Curry chicken (as a dipper). It is absolutely delicious and should be a MUST whenever you eat at a Malaysian restaurant! The curry is sweet, tangy & spicy with chicken and potato pieces…it hits all the right taste buds! You’ll probably have to order an extra order of roti because they give you way more curry than roti!

Lo Bak

Lo Bak, a crispy roll with pork, onions and jicama. Jicama is a Mexican potato/turnip. The rolls reminded me of a dish that can be found in dim sum carts. It was a recommendation from the Washingtonian and one of my favorties. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and very fufilling on the inside. The rolls were cut into bite size pieces and served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Tofu Satay

I love tofu. I love satay. I’ve had both plenty of times before…but this was a first time for Tofu Satay. This was a very big dish, lots of tofu triangles, perfectly grilled. Texture was wonderful. Flavor was interesting…the flavor was not what I was expecting. It was a tangy, almost sour flavor. (My first thoughts were, is this bad tofu?) but…after a second piece, I figured they used some tamarind. The inital flavor is sour, but then the sweetness soaks through. It wasn’t my favorite, but worth a try.

We chose two main dishes to share amongst the three of us…one of the dishes were recommended by the Washingtonian and another was an abritrary pick.

Raja Chicken (Washingtonian Recommended)

Raja chicken, boneless chicken covered in a spicy sauce iwth a side of crispy cellophane noodles, garnished with parsley and sesame seeds. The chicken appeared to have been battered, but didn’t hold the crunch. The flavor was sweet and sour. The cellophane noodles definitely added the crisp and paired well with the chicken.

Spicy Tamarind Beef

Spicy Tamarind Beef, yummy! Big chunks of beef in a spicy tamarind sauce atop eggplant, okra & onions…the beef was very tendor and easily pulled apart, a little grainy and dry, but soaked up the sauce well. The eggplants were not too mushy. I didn’t see much okra. This dish is very tasty when freshly made, but as a meal for the next day – don’t think about it!

We considered dessert, but our stomachs couldn’t handle it.

The atmosphere was very friendly. The service could use some work. The food came out quickly. It was extremely casual and great place to just sit back, eat and have a good time with your friends!

Overall, I’d give it a 7 out of 10.

what else is better on a cold winters day than a pot pie?

i’ve wanted to make chicken pot pie for a really long time, and haven’t had the chance to, but i finally had all the ingredients ready in my kitchen and decided to go for it.

It was everything that I imagined it to be!

i found the simplest recipe i could – courtesy of brown eyed baker

CHICKEN POT PIE

8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 cups chicken stock
½ tsp. chopped fresh thyme (I used 1/8 tsp dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
½ cup chopped yellow onions
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup peeled and chopped carrots
½ cup chopped white button mushrooms
½ cup chopped red-skinned potatoes
1 cup chopped cooked chicken
½ cup cooked fresh or frozen peas
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Four 6-inch squares frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp. water
Preheat an oven to 400ºF.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture smells fragrant and nutty, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly add the stock, whisking until smooth, and bring to a boil. Add the thyme, bay leaf, onions, celery, carrots and mushrooms and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, chicken, peas, salt and pepper and cook until the potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and discard.

Divide the filling among 4 ovenproof bowls and place on a baking sheet. Brush the puff pastry squares with the egg mixture. Brush the rims of the bowls with water. Place 1 pastry square on top of each bowl, pressing lightly on the edges. Bake until the pastry is puffed and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serves 4.

MY VARIATION: I didn’t make individual pot pies, instead I made a large pot pie.

Sorry folks. It’s been a busy few weeks for me with the holidays – parties, presents, brunches, dinners, etc. etc.! but I have lots of pictures, recipes and food stories to share – I’ll be updating soon :)

Today is one of my best friend’s daughter’s 3rd birthday…Happy Birthday Jaelynn! She is absolutely adorable & perhaps one of the smartest 3 year olds I know. Well, this past weekend Lauren (my friend, Jae’s momma) threw her a birthday party – Madagascar themed. Let me tell you, despite the huge hype and awesome movie, finding Madagascar things are nearly impossible —especially cake toppers!

I volunteered to bake the birthday cake. I definitely dreamt big…decorating a cake is not easy work, it’s almost as hard as making pie from scratch.

I cheated and decided to skip making the cake/frosting from scratch and used store prepared box cake mix and frosting…I know, I’m a cheater, but when you’re on a time crunch & didn’t do a trial run, it’s better to go with what’s tasty than the unknown!

The cake decor didn’t turn out as well as I hoped…actually I don’t think it’s remotely close to a good job (Sorry Lauren!) BUT here’s how it did turn out:

P.S – the cake toppers were from McDonalds Happy Meals.

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Earlier this month was my brother’s birthday (Happy Birthday Mike!) He was coming over for dinner and I asked him if he wanted a cake, he said he wasn’t really a big sweets fan…but then he sends me a message the day before dinner and tells me he wants a vanilla cake, just like the store bought ones – can’t be too wet, or too dry. (talk about demands!!!!!) Well, being me and him being my big brother – I was on a mission to bake and impress! This time, I actually baked from scratch. :)

I tried a recipe I found on a few blogs first and the results were a very very very DRY cake, almost like a sponge cake meets angel food cake – I was NOT impressed and was definitely not going to serve it to anyone. SO, round two. I decided to use my handy Test Kitchen Cookbook and made the All Purpose Buttery Cake – it was a hit!

I’ll post the recipe later…but in the mean time, enjoy the picture…

P.S – The pastel colors and the pink, not his style, but I had some left over strawberry frosting in the fridge that I wanted to use up. (Sorry for the girly cake Mike, but it’s the taste that counts right – ha ha) :)

P.P.S _ I definitely have to work on my decoarting skills, DEFINITELY!!

Ah, meatloaf…classic comfort food…some people love it, some people hate…

i can’t say that in my life i’ve eaten too much meatloaf, but i can remember my mom making it every now and then and it wasn’t exactly something that stuck out in my mind. It just a big loaf of meat…how could go wrong, really???

i don’t know how we came about it, but one of my best friends (dr. gin) suggested a meatloaf recipe that got really good reviews, so i decided to give it a try.

the results? not too bad! it was sweet, tangy and not dry…great flavor, but definitely needed some modifications. I tore up the bread slices as directed, but when cooked, you could still see the bread chunks. I chopped the onions as suggested, but they were still too big. Many meatloaf recipes call for a mixture of meat, but this one only uses ground beef and wasn’t dry. As Tyler said, when he thinks of meatloaf, he thinks of a big flavorful loaf of meat, where all the ingredients are incorporated and can’t be picked out individually. So, in the recipe below, i’ve included all modifications.

MEATLOAF:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice, divided
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 3 slices bread, broken up into small pieces
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon beef bouillon granules

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and mustard powder.
3. In a bowl tear up the bread and combine with the egg and bouillon
   
4. In a separate large bowl, combine the ground beef, onion and bread mixture, add remaining lemon juice and 1/3 of the ketchup mixture from the small bowl. Mix this well and place in a 5×9 inch loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, drain any excess fat, coat with remaining ketchup mixture and bake for 10 more minutes.

I had some over-ripe bananas, so instead of wasting them, decided to make some banana bread. I used a recipe from one of my cook books, America’s Test Kitchen, it’s great because it is divided into all different types of food (breakfast, appetizer, meats, poultry, seafood, etc.) and there are a lot of great recipes – however, it can be hit or miss…I’ve tried a few recipes that weren’t all that.

I liked the way the cake turned out, it was a gorgeous golden color and had a wonderful banana aroma, however, the cake was a tad bit on the dry side and didn’t have as strong as a banana flavor as I was expecting (even with two extremely ripe bananas and one artificially ripen banana).

Recipe:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well (1 1/2 cups)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup plain yogurt
walnuts* (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Generously coat a 9×5-in loaf pan
3. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk the mashed bananas, melted butter, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla together in a separate bowl. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined. Fold in the nuts (if using). Do NOT overmix, batter will look thick and chunky
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top (give it a few taps on your kitchen counter). Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached, about 55 minutes (I would do 50minutes)
5. Let loaf cool in pan for 10 minutes before unmolding onto a wire rack to cool for 1 hour

Recipe Courtesy of: The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook